Objects for the Microscope. 207 



HAIR OF CAMEL. 



More nearly resembling wool, soft and flexible, with dis- 

 tinct cortical cells, giving it the appearance of being jointed. 



HAIR OF REINDEER. 



In the Deer there are few cortical cells, but the medul- 

 lary cells are so developed, that they resemble the cellular 

 tissue of vegetables. 



HAIR OF ORNITHORHYNCHUS. 



. A whole hair of this curious little animal presents a com- 

 bination of wool and of hair. The base, which is long and 

 slender, being quite woolly, and the upper part enlarged 

 considerably, and showing imbricated scales on the surface. 

 The Ornithorhynchus is a most singular little animal, about 

 one foot and a half long, with a head somewhat like a 

 duck; a body like a mole, and yet so unlike any other 

 animal that it was at first disbelieved such a genus existed. 

 It is a native of New South Wales, and called by the 

 colonists the Water-mole. 



HAIR OF LARVA OF DERMESTES. 



This is used as a test object, and, when viewed with a 

 good clear J-inch object glass, should show the shaft thickly 

 covered with minute spines or scales, placed on whorls up 

 to the tip, where the last whorl is composed of broader 

 hairs or scales, somewhat resembling the petals of a flower, 

 and each scale terminated by a little knob. 



The Dermestes lardarius is a small black beetle, very 

 destructive to bacon ; it has a broad gray band, spotted 

 black at the base of the elytra. It belongs to the Penta- 

 mera, having five joints in the tarsi, and to the Clavicornes, 

 having clubbed antennae. The larvse are most mischievous 

 in insect collections. So, also, another of the family An- 

 threnus, whose hairs are mounted as test objects. 



We find the larvse of Anthrenus under the bark of old 

 elm trees in February ; of light brown colour, with tufts 

 of long hairs on the three lower joints of the abdomen. 

 These hairs are wonderfully beautiful. Soak them a few 

 minutes in turpentine, and mount in balsam. 



